Police fire tear gas at Kosovo Albanian protesters

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 28 (Reuters) Police in Kosovo fired tear gas to disperse Kosovo Albanian protesters lobbing stones at the United Nations mission in the capital, Pristina, today.

Thousands of protesters demonstrating against the UN-led process to decide the fate of the breakaway Serbian province smashed windows and threw paint on the Kosovo parliament and government building during a march through the capital.

A Reuters reporter said they dispersed after UN riot police fired tear gas from inside the UN compound.

It was the first violence targeting the UN mission and Kosovo's leadership since a decision this month by major world powers to delay a decision on the Albanian majority's demand for independence from Serbia until next year.

The demonstrators, led by former political prisoner Albin Kurti, are demanding the breakaway province be given the right to vote for independence, rather than negotiate with Serbia, whose forces were bombed from the territory by NATO in 1999.

The West had promised a decision on Kosovo's final status this year, with diplomats predicting a form of independence under European Union supervision.

REUTERS KR RK2056